3:04 p.m.: Congress passes farm bill
The Associated Press
The bill also would:
• Boost nutrition programs, including food stamps and emergency domestic food aid, by more than $10 billion over 10 years. It would expand a program to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to schoolchildren.
• Increase subsidies for certain crops, including fruits and vegetables excluded from previous farm bills.
• Extend and expand dairy programs.
• Increase loan rates for sugar producers.
• Urge the government to buy surplus sugar and sell it to ethanol producers for use in a mixture with corn.
• Cut a per-gallon ethanol tax credit for refiners from 51 cents to 45 cents. The credit supports the blending of fuel with the corn-based additive. More money would go to cellulosic ethanol, made from plant matter.
• Require that meats and other fresh foods carry labels with their country of origin.
• Stop allowing farmers to collect subsidies for multiple farm businesses.
• Reopen a major discrimination case against the Agriculture Department. Thousands of black farmers who missed a deadline would get a chance to file claims alleging they were denied loans or other subsidies.
• Pay farmers for weather-related farm losses from a new $3.8 billion disaster relief fund.
• Provide the first-ever infusion of federal farm dollars — more than $400 million — to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
The bill also includes a few home-state provisions inserted by lawmakers, including tax breaks for Kentucky racehorse owners and additional aid for salmon fishermen in the Pacific Northwest.
Despite the overwhelming vote, the bill does have some farm-state critics.